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Every person who has gone to church sometime in their life has probably heard this passage. "Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all {the} flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the spirit..." Ephesians 6:11-18.

This whole passage is using the mind pictures of the body armor of the Roman soldiers at the time it was written. It was to help them grasp the importance of courage, prayer and developing spiritual strength. Paul is teaching us that many times our battles are not against people or things that we can see, but are spiritual battles, usually fought in our minds, and we have to use spiritual weapons to fight against them. He tells us to use truth, righteousness, peace, faith and our salvation as weapons. But exactly what does that mean? We've all heard that tired old phrase "read the Bible". There is a very good reason for that. When you want to learn something new, or how something works, you do some research and read all you can get your hands on about the subject you are wanting to learn about. The Bible is God's instruction manual. It is full of examples of people doing good and bad things and shows us the consequences of those actions. God is there, on every page, teaching us. The more we learn about God, about who He is and about what He expects of us and how we are supposed to act, the more prepared we will be. The passage says to wear a belt of truth. Recognizing there really is right and wrong and choosing to do what's right is living in truth. Next we are to put on the breastplate of righteousness. By believing and accepting Christ, we become children of God and assume the righteousness of Christ. That makes us righteous in God's eyes. Our relationship with Christ and our trust in Him strengthens that righteousness that surrounds us. The

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